The $2.48 Declaration of Independence

Anybody who spends any time in antique or thrift shops has probably had the fantasy of finding a treasure and buying it for next to nothing. That fantasy came true for this guy:

Meet Michael Sparks, a Nashville music equipment technician for Soundcheck Nashville. The rolled-up document he happened upon last March, which he paid less than $3 for, is a rare copy of the Declaration of Independence. It might well fetch a quarter-million — or more.

Sparks found the document at the Music City Thrift Shop on Gallatin Road. He thought it was interesting and took it to the store office to ask for a price. The clerk took out a grease pencil and marked $2.48 on a piece of wood attached to the top of the document, and Sparks walked out the door with it.

"I saw that it said 1823 and I knew that the dec laration was 1776, and I
was just interested. It also said 'by order of the government','' said Sparks, who immediately started researching the piece online and through local historical sources. He determined that his lucky $2.48 find was an "official copy'' of the Declaration of Independence — one of 200 copies commissioned by John Quincy Adams in 1820, when Adams was secretary of state, and printed by William Stone in 1823.

$2.48 to yield vast return

"I'm told that it could go for between $200,000 and $300,000,'' said Sparks, who is preparing to sell his super find at auction next month through Raynors' Historical Collectible Auctions, a Burlington, N.C., auction house that specializes in historic documents.

I've seen a lot of my old baseball cards for sale - cards I got 10 for a nickel and are now $500 apiece. It's not exactly the same (especially since I don't own any of those cards today).